RUSSIAN CRITIC OF VLADIMIR PUTIN IN HOSPITAL, FAMILY SUSPECTS POISONING

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic who has spoken out against Russian President Vladimir Putin, is on life support in a Moscow hospital after being put in a medically induced coma, his family told several news publications on Thursday.

His symptoms were similar to the time in 2015, when his sudden and severe illness led to suspicions he had been poisoned.

“It’s the same clinical picture,” his wife Evgenia Kara-Murza said, referring to the kidney failure he suffered in 2015. Medical tests at the time indicated the illness was due to poisoning but it could not be determined if that was intentional or accidental.

“The reason is unclear, like last time,” she said, noting that his symptoms are also the same like last time.

“He’s been active and healthy [recently].”

However, Kara-Murza’s father told Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Russian daily, that doctors did not suspect a second poisoning, the Guardian reported.

“It’s just that the poisoning two years ago didn’t pass without a trace,” his father said. “My son’s health is weakened.”